Revolver thumb rest safety



Oct. 6, 1953 M. HANSEN 2,654,174

' REVOLVER THUMB REST SAFETY Filed Nov. 1, 1949 a F A b2, v A /7 5 40 EDI g I N V EN TOR. wav c: xm/ysz/x ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 6, 1953 REVOLVER THUlliB REST SAFETY Maurice Hansen, San Mateo, Calif., assignor to Samuel I. Keene, San Francisco, Calif.

Application November 1, 1949, Serial No. 124,860

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to a safety device for a hand gun, and has for one of its objects the provision of simple and positive means for rendering a hand gun safe, but which means is so positioned that in the normal movement of bringing the hand gun to a firing position the operator will prepare the hand gun for instant firing by the thumb of the hand that grasps the butt.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a thumb rest that combines the function of a safety device, and which thumb rest is so mounted on the hand gun as to be movable under downward pressure of the thumb of the butt grasping hand from a safe position preventing actuation of the cooking piece of the firearm to a ready position freeing said cocking piece for actuation, and which thumb rest is in the correct position for supporting the thumb during firing of said hand gun when in said ready position.

In the employment of a safety device on a hand gun, it is important that the safety device be one that is very quickly actuated by the hand that grips the butt and that no possible uncertainty exists as to its operation or as to how it operates.

In conventional service revolvers, for example,

whether the hammer or cocking piece is exposed or not, the revolvers may be fired by merely pulling the trigger. The cooking piece is retracted and released by such pull. A revolver of this type is known as a double-action revolver. Where the hammer is exposed, the latter is ordinarily adapted to be retracted, or cooked, by the thumb. I-Ieretoiore the only provision made for rendering the revolver safe has been to release the hammer, if cooked, to its forward position, which is inadequate, inasmuch as the hammer may still be cooked and fired. With the present invention, the hand gun cannot be cooked and fired until a positive lock has been released.

It has been variously proposed that a slide, or trigger obstructing reciprocable or oscillatable element be employed, but in such instances the operator usually must employ both hands to release the safety latch, one to hold the hand gun and the other to move the safety latch, and in any event, it is not obvious to the user where the safety latch is located and exactly which is the "safe and which is the ready or unlocked position. These disadvantages obviously outweigh the advantage of a safety Where delay in releasing the safety may be fatal to the user.

With the present invention the safety device is so positioned as to make its operation in releasing the trigger and cooking piece certain and rapid even to a user who has no familiarity with the hand gun. This ease of operation and certainty is principally in providing a movable thumb rest that is naturally engaged and moved by the thumb of the user in the natural operation of bringing the hand gun into firing position.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a revolver with my invention thereon.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary elevational view of the butt of the revolver of Fig. 1 with the forward hand grip and side plate removed and with the locking element indicated in cross section.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a portion of the revolver showing the inside of the near side plate that is removed from the drawing, Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view taken along lin 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the safety latch re moved from the hand gun, and Fig. 6 is a side elevational View of the latch of Fig. 5 as seen from the sidethat is against the side plate of the hand gun.

In detail, the revolver shown in Fig. 1 comprises the usual butt I having removable hand grips 2 at opposite sides thereof and a side plate 3 that is removably secured to a side of the frame 4 and which side plate together with the hand grip cover the firing mechanism.

The firing mechanism includes a cooking piece 5 in the form of a hammer that is retractable to cocked position against the resistance of a main spring 6. The finger retractable trigger I is operably connected with the cooking piece through a conventional sear (not shown), for releasing the cooking piece from cocked position.

The above structure is conventional, and in said structure the cooking piece or hammer 5 is formed with a portion I II that projects rearwardly and downwardly from the spur I I of the hammer that is adapted to be engaged by the thumb of the butt gripping hand for cooking the hammer and for letting the hammer down when the operator does not wish to fire the cooked piece. In most revolvers, this portion I0 functions to fill the gap that would normally occur in the frame 4 were said portion not present, when the hammer is in forward position, and said portion I0 is formed with a downwardly directed surface I2 (Fig. 2) that moves generally downwardly when the hammer is retracted.

In the present invention, one end M of a fiat arm I5 is pivot-ally secured by a stud bolt It to the outer side of the side plate 3 at a point below the crane lock or thumb piece I! that releasably holds the cylinder I8 against lateral swinging to unloading position. This arm preferably is horizontally elongated and plate-like with one of its fiat sides against the side plate 3 and with its upper and lower edges extending divergently from the forward end portion l4.

The side of arm l that faces side plate 3 is formed with a pair of laterally opening recesses 28, 2| that are spaced one above the other on an arcuate line pcncentric with the axis .of pivot 16. The side plate -3 is formed with a bore- 25 and with a counterbore 26 that, opens outwardly of the side that faces the arm l5. A pin 21 slidably extends through bore 25 and isltormedmith a head 28 that is adapted to move into and out of the counterbore 26. This-head 28'15' tirrefer ably rounded on its outer side, and an -.=expansion coil spring 29 around the pin reacts. between the head 28 and the shoulder defining the in- -ura1 action of the user is to push downwardly on ,-the' thumhrest-upon bringing the hand gun to aiming position with the result that the rear end .ot thezarm is swung downwardlyto the correct position and pin 2? is retracted. The safety hence claim. 15, then in the ready posiner end of the counterbore thus yieldably; r'u-rging' the rounded side of thehead into engagement with the arm 15. The head, :is adapted 110 slide in the recess whenthe arm d5 is swun upwardly, thereby yieldably holding-the arm and uponappl-ication .of: downward pressure-[on the arm rho-swing lclownwardly, the:.-headwi11 be more out of. therecess Handintorecess 2l. In other words, :the arm 15 will he yieldably held either up (as in Fig. l) or dowaand the degree of such movement from the up "position toithe down position is determined by. the spacing; 'between recesses 26, .2 I.

In order to insure against possible separation between the outer end of arm 15 (remote from pivot I6) and the side plate 3, and to positively limit the swinging of :the' arm-:about pivot .al'fi, the side plate 3 is formed With.an EII:CuZL B}$I-Qt 3e v(Fig. 4) that sisi-concentric'with the pivot :16. This slot is enlarged at 3| @(Fig A). to receive the flat head .32. of arscrew an. that, extends throu h slot .38 and thatcis .threadedly secured in the arm 15. This screw-is shouldered to prevent bindin .of thearm ila5syet to insure :aiclose sliding fit between the adjacent surfaces of arm iii and side plate 3. Theheadwbeing in en'largement ;3l does no'tr-interierewith zany of-thetrigger or firing mechanism. I

The "bore for :pin .21 positioned 'just be= low the shoulder :IF2 of ithercockingepiece is substantially in slidable engagement with the side plate 3, it will be :seen that'when the pin 27 projects inwardly from itheside :plate 1 as seen in Figs. 2, .4, it: Will be in the path o'f travel of the cocking piece. andthecocking piece or hammer will be positively ilocked against retraction. The trigger will likewise befilocked through its conventional operative connection with the cooking piece.

When the rear end of arm 15 swung downwardly from the position'show-n in Fig. 1, t0 the point where the head of'pin 2! snaps into recess 2 l the projecting end-of pin 21 wi-l1 be'WithdraWn completely until its outer end "is substantially flush with the inner surface, of the, side plate and then the-cocking piece may be .lietracted manually or bymeans of the tr gger. Recess .27] is of sufficiently greater depth than recess .20 to permit said retraction of the .pin .21..

The rear end of-, arm .I5 isformedwith ,a ,relatively widelateral.projectionAO (Figs-1,15") that is adapted to form a thumb -rest-for thezthumb of the hand thatgrips thebutt of-the "hand gun. This projection or-ledge-preerably is. slightly convexly curved on its :upper surface indirection of the longitudinal axis of the hand gun, and is exactly :in the (correct positionwhen'the tion and the hand 'g'un may be fired by pulling thewtrigger or by first cooking the cocking piece by the thumb.

To render the-revolver safe after firing or when thegrevolver is loaded and is carri d, .0 laidaway, theuser merely slips the thumb of the butt-gripping hand below :the ledge t0 and sw-ings the arm it upwardly to safe position. The degree of resistance to such movement is determined 'by the spring 29 and thewshapes of recesses 2B, 21!; and-head 228,,ahd iswsuch as to prevent accidentals-wi-nging of the arm 5 while permitting intentional swinging ,under a force that may be readily applied by the thumb only of the hand that grips the butt. By the above structure a safety device is -pro vided that is readily and naturally manipulated by @the thumb of the hand that grips the butt of the revolver ofhandgumyvhich hand is the one that is employed in the entiregshooting operation. The movement of thesafety to f-rea-dy" position does not require ashifting of the thumb from arsafety device back to its-proper position, but instead; the. actual movement of the thumb .to its ,cqrrect position-unlocks the safety device and :the thumb actuatable element becomes. the thumb rest; when the safie'ty .device isin the "ready position.

Fromrthe foregoing explanation, it will be obvious. that the hand gun :is absolutely safe when the'safety device -:is in the safe position, a condition not provided for in present conventional revolvers and which lack creates an everpresent peril from accidental "firing of a loaded hand gun. However, the :provision of such safety device by the present invention does not delay the rate of speed at which the user may, under .extreme urgency, be required to fire the hand gun. The hand gun may be drawn, the safety moved to reatlqfl position, aimed, and fired with the samespeed as though the safety device were not present for the reason that the safety device is automatically actuated by the normal operation of the hand and thumb in moving the hand gun --to firing position without requiring any extra or additional movement, such as pushing or pulling a lever or apin or other element and thereafterbeing required to withdraw the finger that has actuated such element. Nor does the present invention require the hand or anyfinger to continuously exerta pressure of any kind to hold a safety device in a, position in which the cocking piece may be actuated. 7

It is also seen from, the description that the conventional parts of the hand gun remain unchanged by the present invention. It is to be understood that the invention is not to 1be7considered asflbeing necessarily restrictive to the precise position of the locking pin. The pin might be positioned elsewhere provided it functioned to prevent the cocking of the cocking piece. The illustration shows the safety device on one of the conventional makes of revolvers. Variations between standard structures would require modifications that would be obvious in order to adapt the invention to the different structures, all of which, however, are fundamentally similar. In the present instance, while the structure shown is preferable, it will be seen that the pin 21 could be positioned to obstruct the movement of the upper run of the spring 6 toward collapsed or generally downward movement, and the cooking piece would be locked. Or the side of the hammer might be recessed to receive the projecting end of the pin 21 when the arm I5 was in the safe positon and, although this would involve a slight alteration of the cooking piece, it would not constitute the adding of any element.

I claim:

1. In a revolver including a frame having a butt for grasping by the hand and a retractable cocking piece and a retractable trigger operably connected with said cocking piece for release of the latter from a retracted position upon a predetermined movement of said trigger, a thumb rest projecting laterally from a side of said frame substantially the width of the thumb of said hand and adjacent to the upper end of said butt supported on said frame for generally vertical movement from an elevated position to a lowered position and vice versa, means securing said thumb rest to said frame for said movement, said thumb rest being engageable by said thumb when in said elevated and lowered positions and when the forefinger of said hand is in trigger retracting position for effecting said movement of said thumb rest by said thumb and for supporting said thumb pointing forwardly in normal shooting position when said thumb rest is in said lowered position, a member supported on said frame for movement from a safe position obstructing retraction of said cocking piece when said thumb rest is in said elevated position to a ready position permitting said retraction of said cocking piece when said thumb rest is in said lowered position and vice versa, and means including a portion of said thumb rest rigid with the latter and in engagement with said member for causing said movement of said member upon said movement of said thumb rest from said elevated position to said lowered position, said last mentioned means including means for yieldably holding said 6 thumb rest in said elevated and said lowered positions respectively.

2. In a revolver including a frame having a butt for grasping by the hand and a retractable cocking piece and a retractable trigger operably connected with said cocking piece for release of the latter from a retracted position upon a predetermined movement of said trigger, a thumb rest projecting laterally from a side of said frame substantially the width of the thumb of said hand and adjacent to the upper end of said butt supported on said frame for generally vertical movement from an elevated position to a lowered position and vice versa, means securing said thumb rest to said frame for said movement, said thumb rest being engageable by said thumb when in said elevated and lowered positions and when the forefinger of said hand is in trigger engaging position for effecting said movement of said thumb rest by said thumb and for supporting said thumb pointing forwardly in normal shooting position when said thumb rest is in said lowered position, a member extending through said frame and supported by the latter for movement at right angles to the movement of said thumb rest from a safe position obstructing retractive movement of said cocking piece to a ready position permitting such movement, a spring yieldably holding said member in engagement with said thumb rest during said movement of said thumb rest thereover, the surface of said thumb rest adapted to be so engaged by said member being formed with a pair of recesses in which said member is adapted to be yieldably held by said spring when said thumb rest is in said elevated position and in said lowered position for releasably holding said thumb rest in said elevated and said lowered positions said recesses being respectively formed to hold said member in said safe position and in said ready position when said thumb rest is in said elevated and lowered positions respectively.

MAURICE HANSEN.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

